“I uphold that the decision was lawful, and accordingly I
dismiss that part of the challenge,” he told the court.

His decision comes despite past claims by Finucane’s widow,
Geraldine, that the British government had “engineered a
suppression of the truth behind the murder of my husband” in
a previous investigation.

The Finucane killing, in which the lawyer was slain in front of
his family in February 1989, was one of the most controversial
murders carried out during the Troubles.

Allegations endure of collusion between British security forces
and the loyalist paramilitaries who carried out the murder, with
the De Silva inquiry into the attack having found there were
“shocking” levels of complicity.

At a press conference following the publication of the De Silva
report in 2012, Geraldine Finucane said: “At every turn it is
clear that this report has done exactly what was required – to
give the benefit of the doubt to the state, its cabinet and
ministers, to the army, to the intelligence services and to
itself.

“At every turn, dead witnesses have been blamed and defunct
agencies found wanting. Serving personnel and active state
departments appear to have been excused.”

As the ruling was announced, bodies thought to be those of
disappeared victims of IRA violence were being unearthed from a
bog in County Meath in the Republic of Ireland.

Specialist investigation teams were searching for the body of
monk-turned-IRA man Joe Lynskey, who was allegedly murdered by
the IRA for being a double agent. Investigators, however, say
they have discovered two bodies.

The victims in such cases are often referred to as the
‘disappeared.’

Jon Hill, a senior investigator from the Independent Commission
for the Location of Victims Remains (ICLVR), told the BBC:
“We were searching for the remains of Joe Lynskey, only
expecting to find the remains of one person.

“As the archaeologists were uncovering the remains they had
found, it became clear that there was more than one where we were
searching.”

The investigators believe the bodies were buried together at the
site, which they say may also have been used by the IRA to dump
other victims.

Hill said it would be several weeks before DNA test results were
available.